The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to credentialise all the documents, including khata certificates, sanctioned building plans, tax-paid receipts, etc, issued to the public by generating QR codes on such documents to enable the public and the BBMP itself to check authentication through online e-verification.
Like DigiLocker
Also, the court asked the BBMP to evolve a mechanism to allow the citizens to store BBMP’s documents in digital repositories like DigiLocker so that citizens can avail of various services from both government and private agencies through e-verification of such documents.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued direction while allowing a petition filed by Sharmada B.K., a dentist and a resident of Banashankari 1st Stage.
The court issued the direction on noticing that the BBMP itself had questioned the genuineness of a khata certificate of a property jointly owned by the petitioner since 2013 with her parents when she had in 2021 applied for changing the khata to her name based on the registered deed through which her parents gave up their rights on the property in her favour.
Not just that, the BBMP had also claimed that a couple had filed an objection for changing the khata in her name. However, the couple, D.N. Ramananda and his wife Geetha, residents of HSR Layout, in response to the court’s notice, clarified that they had not filed any objection on the petitioner’s application but it was BBMP on its own that had raised objection. However, the couple claimed that they had purchased the property in 1999 and khata is in their names.
A strange case
The court found it a strange case as the BBMP had not only claimed that it had no records of khata in its file as claimed by the petitioner but also alleged that the khata certificate produced by the petitioner was “fabricated and false” even though the digital data of self-assessment of property tax stood in the name of the petitioner and her parents.
On verification of the digital data on BBMP’s website, the court found that property tax payment data displayed the names of the petitioner and her parents. The Court also noticed that the PID number on the property tax website does not match with the names of the couple, who claimed to have purchased property in 1999.
Not a stray case
Pointing out that it is not a stray case in which the genuineness of the khata certificate issued by the BBMP on a piece of paper is questioned, the court said that it is high time for the civic body to have a facility of credentialisation of documents through e-verification.
The court also directed the BBMP Chief Commissioner to take appropriate action against the assistant revenue officer of Padmanabha Nagar sub-division for misleading the court on the khata details of the petitioner. While directing the BBMP to change the khata to the petitioner’s name within 30 days, the Court gave liberty to the couple to litigate before the civil court on their grievance.
